Videos

The Estée Edit a Model for Mixing Content & Commerce

ByHoma Zaryouni ·

30 October 2014

In July 2014, Estée Lauder made a move that deceivingly hinted at de-prioritization of content. It re-launched in the US and eliminated the ‘Style Guide’ tab from its new site. But in fact, the brand was investing more in content than ever. Under the new design, on-site editorial destination The Estée Edit hosts all blog posts and branches out to topics beyond beauty: food, interviews with iconic women (Hannah Bronfman is the latest), décor, and fashion.

L2 and Demandware’s Intelligence Report: Content & Commerce finds that integrating brand content with other marketing efforts is one of the top barriers to effective content marketing, cited by 14% of managers as the top challenge.

Estée Lauder has a model integration method that enables it to achieve the rare balance of engaging content that leads consumers down a purchase path. Though few of The Estée Edit posts are straight product pitches, each has a curated list of products for purchase at the bottom. Videos, user-generated content, shade finders and product comparison tools formerly hosted under Style Guide tab are now hosted on product pages. The overall result: a journey that blends doses of content with points of sale. The takeaway: there is no need for creative brand content to live under a separate tab, as the goal of every piece is to influence the purchase decision.